Alta Moda by Mario Testino Alta Moda by Mario Testino 12.20.13 I am THRILLED that I had the opportunity to view the ALTA MODA exhibit by Mario Testino. It did not disappoint. I HIGHLY recommend a trip to Peru via New York through the eyes of the famed fashion photographer’s eyes. ALTA MODA by Mario Testino November 20, 2013−March 29, 2014 The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, under the chairmanship of Oscar de la Renta, will be the first American venue to present ALTA MODA, a series of photographic portraits by acclaimed photographer Mario Testino. Known primarily for his work in fashion magazines, Testino makes a bold departure with this series. Alta Moda—literally “high fashion” in Spanish—documents Peruvians in their vibrantly colored and ornately adorned traditional and festive dress from Cusco, one of the highest mountainous regions of Peru. To create Alta Moda, Testino made several trips to Cusco city over a five-year period after discovering an archive of costumes from the region.

He was equally inspired by the history of Peruvian photography, and in particular by the work of Martin Chambi, one of the first indigenous Latin American photographers. Testino worked closely with Chambi’s grandchildren and used recreated backdrops from the archive of the late Peruvian photographer. While Alta Moda appears to reference the tradition of ethnographic photography, Testino has, in fact, captured several stories within each photograph. “I usually try to capture the moment,” says Testino. “But with this series, I wanted to do something very different—not just with my own work, but also with the practice of photography. I tried to fit as much time and history into each frame as possible—from the traditional and festive clothing to the Chambi backdrops to the Peruvian people in them. Alta Moda is quite different from the portraits I am perhaps best known for.” The accompanying catalogue—lavishly illustrated with full color plates—features essays by Mario Testino and Hamish Bowles and will be sold exclusively at Queen Sofia Spanish Institute.

ALTA MODA by Mario Testino will be accompanied by a series of related public programs that will additionally serve to reinforce the Institute’s mission of promoting greater awareness and understanding of the culture of Spain and the Spanish-speaking world in the United States through a steadfast dedication to advancing scholarship in the humanities and the arts. Please check the website for a schedule of events. This exhibition is partially supported by PromPeru. Press inquiries and image requests: press@qssi.org or 212-628-0420. QUEEN SOFÍA SPANISH INSTITUTE | 684 Park Avenue | New York, New York 10065 | T 212 628 0420 | F 212 734 4177 Queen Sofía Spanish Institute was founded as The Spanish Institute in 1954 to promote greater awareness and understanding of the culture of the Spanish-speaking world in the United States, and was renamed in November 2003 to recognize the support given to the Institute through the years by Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain.

Since its foundation, the Institute has sought to further its mission through a variety of programs in public affairs, science, and the performing and visual arts. The activities focus on particular aspects of Spanish culture, past and present, and the remarkable influence this culture has in the Americas. Throughout its 59 years, the Institute has maintained an especially strong commitment to the fine arts by exhibiting major masters and newly emerging artists from Spain, Latin America and Europe. Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Mario Testino : todo o nada. (Book, 2010) [WorldCat.org] Todo o nada Abstract: This exhibition brings together fifty-four photographs by Mario Testino which reveal two opposing directions in his work: fashion and the nude. These subjects are to be discovered both in his well-known published oeuvre as a fashion photographer as well as in his personal work, and the show includes a number of photographs specially taken for this exhibition and seen here for the first time. For Mario Testino, the heart of Todo o Nada lies in contemplating the process and implications involved in the act of removing one's clothes and becoming naked. As he says, 'The pictures start fully clothed and end naked.

But where does fashion photography end and portraiture begin?' To this end, the exhibition includes photographs in which the models wear elaborate dresses, in sets specifically created for each picture and characterised by a deliberate theatricality, contrasted with others in which they are seen starkly unclothed, referring to iconic Plates of Spanish art such as Goya's Majas. The exhibition also reveals many dimensions of the relationship between the photographer and his models. From the glamour of the most famously beautiful women in the world, nude, or wearing haute couture (often photographed with a touch of irony and a provocative sense of humour), to more intimate, oblique and spontaneous moments, Todo o Nada is an ode to 'Testino's woman'. He has defined and redefined his way of seeing a woman over the course of his career. She is a woman who moves between totally opposing poles: 'I like strong, independent women. Women who, despite their strength, never lose their femininity and who do not use their beauty as a tool. Women with personality who can reflect their own desires and ours.' Within the concept of the show, Testino's intention has been to establish a dialogue with the Museum's collection.

In his words: 'Exhibiting in a museum such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza with its extraordinary collection is a privilege for any artist working today, particularly given that many of the artists and Plates in the collection have influenced my own work and inspired me. The Museum is remarkable, not just for the collection that it houses, but also for the space, which enhances the work of any artist.' Reviews Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Be the first. Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Be the first. Tags Add tags for "Mario Testino : todo o nada.". Be the first. Similar Items schema:datePublished "2010" ; schema:description "This exhibition brings together fifty-four photographs by Mario Testino which reveal two opposing directions in his work: fashion and the nude. These subjects are to be discovered both in his well-known published oeuvre as a fashion photographer as well as in his personal work, and the show includes a number of photographs specially taken for this exhibition and seen here for the first time. For Mario Testino, the heart of Todo o Nada lies in contemplating the process and implications involved in the act of removing one's clothes and becoming naked.

As he says, 'The pictures start fully clothed and end naked. But where does fashion photography end and portraiture begin?' To this end, the exhibition includes photographs in which the models wear elaborate dresses, in sets specifically created for each picture and characterised by a deliberate theatricality, contrasted with others in which they are seen starkly unclothed, referring to iconic Plates of Spanish art such as Goya's Majas. The exhibition also reveals many dimensions of the relationship between the photographer and his models. From the glamour of the most famously beautiful women in the world, nude, or wearing haute couture (often photographed with a touch of irony and a provocative sense of humour), to more intimate, oblique and spontaneous moments, Todo o Nada is an ode to 'Testino's woman'. He has defined and redefined his way of seeing a woman over the course of his career. She is a woman who moves between totally opposing poles: 'I like strong, independent women. Women who, despite their strength, never lose their femininity and who do not use their beauty as a tool.

Women with personality who can reflect their own desires and ours.' Within the concept of the show, Testino's intention has been to establish a dialogue with the Museum's collection. In his words: 'Exhibiting in a museum such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza with its extraordinary collection is a privilege for any artist working today, particularly given that many of the artists and Plates in the collection have influenced my own work and inspired me. The Museum is remarkable, not just for the collection that it houses, but also for the space, which enhances the work of any artist.'" ; Mario Testino Mario Testino .com Mario Testino OBE (born on 30 October 1954) is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer. His work has featured internationally in magazines such as Vogue , V Magazine , Vanity Fair and GQ . He has also created images for brands such as Gucci , Burberry , Versace , Michael Kors , Chanel , Estée Lauder and Lancôme . Alongside his practice as a photographer, Testino has also worked as a creative director, guest editor, museum founder, art collector/collaborator and entrepreneur.

[1] [2] In 2007, he formed MARIOTESTINO+, [3] which provides creative direction, art direction, brand strategy, graphic design, film and stills production, digital and social media, product development, books, exhibitions, licensing and partnerships. [4] Aaron Hicklin of The Observer described him as "the world's most prolific magazine and fashion trade photographer". [5] Contents Early life[ edit ] Testino was born and grew up in Lima to an upper class Catholic family. [6] He was the eldest of six children and is of Irish , Spanish and Italian descent. [7] He attended the Catholic school Santa Maria Marianistas. As a child he wanted to be a priest . [8] Testino studied Economics at Universidad del Pacífico [9] followed by the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and the University of San Diego . In 1976 he went to London to study photography after abandoning his studies of Economics, Law and International Affairs. [7] It was during apprenticeships at the studios of John Vickers and Paul Nugent that he made his first attempts as a photographer.

Living in an unconverted floor of a hospital, without much money, [10] he funded himself by working as a waiter . He had his hair dyed pink which helped him get noticed as a photographer [11] and took inspiration from British celebrity fashion photographer Cecil Beaton . [12] London was a city that allowed him to flourish expressively without the restrictions he felt were imposed on him in Peru. [13] During the early nineties, Testino looked to his childhood growing up in Peru and his teenage summers in Brazil for inspiration, [14] which helped him to shape his photographic language. His work first appeared in Vogue in 1983. [15] Career[ edit ] Testino has become one of the world’s most well known and celebrated fashion photographers. He has documented subjects from A-list stars, musicians, supermodels and artists as well as subjects he has encountered throughout his travels. His work has been featured in magazines such as Vogue , V Magazine , Vanity Fair , GQ , LOVE , Allure and VMan . Eighteen exhibitions and more than sixteen books have been published on his work.

Suzy Menkes , Vogue ’s International Editor explains, "Testino’s skill is first and foremost to catch the moment and to bring out the humanity in his subjects". [16] Some of Testino's most recognisable work derives from his portraits of royals, most famously, his series with Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. [17] Commissioned for Vanity Fair he said: "[Diana] opened a door for me because I then started photographing the royal families of Europe extensively... this brings out my love for tradition, for a way of showing family and the longevity of people". [18] Testino was also the official photographer for portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the occasion of their engagement in December 2010. [19] In July 2015, he took the official photographs of the British Royal Family after HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge 's christening at Sandringham Estate . He has photographed many other royal families in a similar fashion.

[20] Testino's collaboration with Tom Ford and fashion stylist Carine Roitfeld on provocative advertising campaigns in the mid-1990s is widely credited to have led to the revival of Gucci as a major fashion house. [21] He has also crafted and contributed to the imagery of leading fashion establishments such as Burberry , Michael Kors , Dolce & Gabbana , Estée Lauder , Valentino , Versace , Calvin Klein and Salvatore Ferragamo among others . Anna Wintour , editor-in-chief of American Vogue stated that "Fashion photography is this uneasy mix of art and commerce and I think nobody understands this better than Mario". [22] [23] Aaron Hicklin of The Observer described him as "the world's most prolific magazine and fashion trade photographer". [6] His persistence in shooting Gisele Bündchen & Kate Moss is widely credited with elevating their supermodel status. [6] Testino was nicknamed the " John Singer Sargent of our times" by Terence Pepper, photography curator at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

[16] The Gallery’s 2002 Portraits exhibition attracted more visitors than any other show in the museum’s history at the time. For ten years it had the highest attendance of any exhibition ever to be held there. Over the next four years the exhibition toured globally. [24] Testino's personal art collection has been the subject of two exhibitions. [25] The first, Somos Libres in 2013 was at MATE - Museo Mario Testino in Lima, Peru. The second installation in 2014, Somos Libres II took place at the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Turin, Italy. His relationship with fine art developed through frequent visits to galleries and artist's studios [26] [27] and he has collaborated to create works with artists such as Keith Haring , [28] Vik Muniz , [29] John Currin [30] and Julian Schnabel . [31] Testino was presented with an honorary OBE on 14 January 2014 by UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in recognition of his career and charity work.

[32] In 2011, he was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship by The Royal Photographic Society . [33] These are awarded to distinguished persons having, from their position or attainments, an intimate connection with the science or fine art of photography or the application thereof. In this same year GQ also awarded Testino the Man of the Year Inspiration Award. [34] In Latin America, he has been awarded The Grand Cross rank of the Order of Merit for Distinguished Service in Peru (2010) [35] as well as The Tiradentes Medal in Brazil (2007). [36] Within the fashion and entertainment industry he has received the Walpole Ward for services to the luxury industry (2009), [37] the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award (2005) [38] and the British Style Award (2003). [39] Philanthropy[ edit ] Testino has been honoured for his contributions to many non-profit causes and charitable organisations through various awards and recognitions .

In 2010 he was also appointed one of the highest honours in his native country, The Grand Cross Order of Merit in Peru, and became President of the Board of World Monuments Fund Peru [41] in 2014. He has worked with Save the Children , amfAR , Elton John AIDS Foundation and CLIC Sargent for children with cancer. In his role as a Save the Children ambassador he helped to raise funds to build the El Salvador Clinic in the Pueblo Nuevo District , Chincha, in his native Peru. The clinic was built for children with tuberculosis in the area badly affected by the devastating earthquake, which hit the coast of Peru in August 2007. The El Salvador Clinic was entirely funded from the sale of a single print from Mario Testino’s iconic portraits of Princess Diana , auctioned for £100,000. [8] He has also helped to raise money for Natalia Vodianova 's Naked Heart Foundation to build a playground in a Moscow children’s hospital specialising in cancer. It is a cause close to his heart since his brother died from the disease at the age of 10.

[8] The arts are a source of great pleasure to Testino to the extent that in July 2012 he opened his first non-profit association in Barranco, Lima. MATE - Museo Mario Testino was established to act as a dynamic platform for Peruvian art through the cultivation and promotion of culture and heritage. [42] Testino restored a colonial, 13,000 sq. ft. mansion built in 1898, which today is home to a permanent exhibition of his work alongside a Temporary Exhibition Space for Peruvian and international artists. [43] [44] The Zeugma Archive: Interviews: Mario Testino Mario Testino: At Home In All The World I had arranged to meet Mario Testino in Paris on the first day of the fashion shows, his very last free day for months. Fashion is a fickle mistress to say the least, and Testino was making the most of a wave of popularity that sees him booked up far ahead on advertising and editorial shoots all over the world, for the most lusted-after clients.

One reason for his busyness is that Testino is the very model of a modern fashion photographer, combining a post-modernist sensitivity to rapid shifts in the cultural paradigm with a classical talent for pulling off ambitious location shoots withthe minimum of fuss. The days when the teams from Vogue or Harper's Bazaar would jump on the next plane to Macchu Piccu with hardly any hesitation are long gone. Testino by contrast is one of the few photographers whom you can assume is always to be found on location rather than in the studio. We met up in the office complex Testino shares with his brother Giovanni, who runs his own photographers' agency repping other fine photographers besides Mario, in between pre-production meetings for ad campaigns and magazine shoots tied to the fashion shows that were about to begin that same day. Testino's colourful yet refined taste in interior design, well-documented in articles by the magazines he shoots fashion for, was in subdued evidence within his personal office space. I began the interview by harking back to the lecture at Metro Labs in London where I first met Testino. KPG: Mario, your presentation at Metro was very accomplished. Do you do that kind of thing often? MT: That was my first real talk, that one.

I've done smaller talks in South America. I used to go to schools and do them. It's funny, at Metro they said, 'You can have a talk and there will be between 50 and 75 people.' But it turned out to be 200 people! I was quite scared! You know, when you have to talk about yourself and your work! I like giving talks; I love the idea. The reason why I do interviews is that when I started quite a long time ago, I didn't really work as an assistant for that long, and I quickly had to start on my own. It's hard to learn and to know on your own, and it's good that other people starting maybe can get an idea of how to work it all. There's so many little elements to being a fashion photographer. Now one thing I am going through right now is the casting. It's so important the casting, it determines half the image already. It's good to be able to relate this to the younger people. KPG: Do you go out of your way to be with young people so much? MT: Oh yeah, all the time. I'm lucky because it's not a real effort.

I am attracted by youth. I always worry what it's going to be like when I'm 55 or 65 you know, if I'm going to be there hanging out with 20 year olds. Not only do I constantly look for them because that's what inspires me visually, and that's what I really have to photograph because fashion is about younger people, but I also think all the ideas come from the young people. My godchildren are all between 10 and 15 now, and I get a lot of the ideas from how they dress. That's where fashion comes from, it comes from youth. It's important to be surrounded by young people. KPG: How old are you now? MT: 42. KPG: So you're still quite young! MT: I feel young in my head. I think it is quite important to stay young. This business makes people think of photographers as stars. The moment that you start thinking of yourself as a star you start going down, because the more youthful you stay throughout your career the better it is. Then, your approach to it is always young and new.

I find that a lot of photographers tend to stay with one thing and do that thing for 20 years. I get bored with things quite quickly, so I constantly have to renew myself. KPG: How do you do that? Where do you look for inspiration ? MT: I get inspiration from everything. What I do is I push myself to go out and see. You get ideas from anywhere. Sometimes you are too tired at night to go out, but then you do go, you make the special effort, and in the show you see something that triggers something off. All of a sudden, you find inspiration. Inspiration you can get from a chair, from a tree, from a person in the street, from everything, because inspiration can come from a colour, an idea of light or an idea of a person. It is wrong to look for ideas from fashion magazines, because you end up doing what everyone else is doing. It's better if your inspiration comes from anything else. I once saw an article on Christian LaCroix's show and where he had the inspirations for his dresses.

One came from a wicker basket, one came from a Delft plate, another came from a dress from the 1880s, you know, so basically you can get it from anything. I like getting my ideas from the things of now. I am very conscious of the moment, of images that belong to this moment instead of another period. Fashion is really a reflection of our lives. You see women today and they don't do their hair up; they all wear their hair undone. So you have to reflect that in your photography . If you are a photographer in the 90s it should look like the 90s, it shouldn't look like the 70s or the 40s or the 30s. You can get inspirations from a period but you must be conscious of keeping it true to today. KPG: Are you looking for little moments, or are you searching for something bigger? MT: I am trying to create a world that belongs to me. I am trying to find my own sphere. The more I do what I feel I should be doing the better the result seems to be, and the more people seem to like it.

When I started in this business, people wanted to direct me into something . You know they hire you to do a job, but they don't want you to decide what to do. They want to decide for you. And you make compromises because you need the money, you have to earn a living, you start doing less of what you want to do and compromise with the client. But I have learnt that clients usually don't like the results. They like when you give them something that is theirs. KPG: You hardly ever seem to be at home in London. MT: I work for a lot of different people in a lot of different countries. This is an office that Art Partner Europe has that I come to when I am in Paris, but I am based in London and I noticed that English photographers because they were married and they had kids or whatever, they didn't want to travel. They decided they would stay in London. So what happens? You have 3 or 4 clients that are high fashion labels, and 20 that are a lower level because you cannot have all your clients at the same level all in one country, so I realised you have to travel.

Before me photographers used to have a studio to be based in, so everyone who worked with them would go to their studio in that country. What I started realising is it is better not to have a studio, but go around the world booking freelance studios. It was hard when I started to convince people that they had to pay for the studio � a lot of people thought you had to own your own. Now I travel all over the world. That was 1980, when I really started working. I started in 1978 doing small things for me and tests and whatever. KPG: But now you're always on the road! MT: My generation was the first to work like that, because at least in London that wasn't the usual thing. There was always photographers like Penn and Avedon who came to the couture in Paris, and in Rome, and sometimes they came to do the collections, but I think that my generation started to do this thing of moving around. I realised I had to build a clientele around the world, in order to have a clientele of a certain level all the time. It's an exhausting thing, because I spend my life on an aeroplane.

I go to New York, Los Angeles, and Paris, Milan, London, all the time moving. It's made me richer because you have a lot more inspirations and a lot more feedback from more cultures, and I guess somewhere along the line it's also about culture. The more you know the more your palettes of ideas to draw on are, because I've managed to spend so much time in other countries, working for British Vogue, Italian Vogue, American Vogue. I work for Versace, Gucci, Missoni, Saint Laurent, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, so you've got to understand what they're all about, these people, and do what you think is right for them. When I work for American Vogue the work is different for Italian Vogue, a different esthetic, a different woman, a different reality, because Italian Vogue is not very interested in making everything look like a real woman. American Vogue is interested in the real woman. There are different cultures, and you adapt to that. I adapt to Versace, and Gucci, and Missoni, and try to go into their world and be the interpreter of their ideas.

I think that a fashion photographer at the end of the day is the interlocutor between them and the people that are going to buy. It's being a salesman. They give you a product, and you see what is the best way to convince the clients to love it and buy it. People are often having this thing of whether fashion photography is an art or not an art, and I think that there has to be an artistic point of view because you are creating things. The art is in the idea of creating. It is true that we are commercial vehicles. Our work is commercial photography . I do a lot of other things for magazines like The Face, or Visionaire in America where there is no commercial value, you are just doing an image, you are not selling anything. Then I do my personal work which are my nudes, and I've been doing another book project that is hopefully out this year, which is just about my snaps, and how when you put photographs together they can communicate a message that is not necessarily just from one picture or the other. KPG: So you're becoming more interested in the art of photography? MT: I am not that worried about photography 's status as an art.

But, people seem to be really worried about it. Whatever you create is an art form. I have photographs of Avedon's, of Penn's, that are like a painting. There is that palette of colour and the composition and all the things you see in art. When you look at a painting, there is composition, there is colour, there is movement. The same with fashion photography. I guess in a way, some things are more commercial than others. Anything you create: a cook is an artist though there's different levels. KPG: What do you get out of living in London? MT: I don't work a lot for English clients, but I often shoot for Japanese clients there. What I do a lot of in London is research for my work. I get my ideas, a lot of my models there because the English esthetic is one I can relate to quite well. I work with a lot of English people in my work. I work with a guy called Patrick Kinmont who does most of my sets and my props. From every country you get a different thing. I spend as much time there as I do in New York, or try to. And different years are different.

This last year I spent most of December and January in South America working, for clients from all over the place. I just felt that Brazil had a good feeling for this season. We did lots of stories there. It's a feeling as well. Egypt is something I just felt for now. I just did a story for British Vogue where I did a meeting with Galliano and he said there is a lot of Egyptian in his collection. Why, you know? It's just things that are in the air. KPG: Do you have the freedom with your clients to say, 'This place is where it is right now,' then just go there? MT: Very much so. They want me for that. I fought for a long time to have me be the one who establishes those things, and when they see the results are always better, they want more. The more I am involved in something the better it is. I follow my feelings. I am really lucky, because if I decide I want to go to Brazil, I propose it to people I want to work with. They seem to go with that. I hope it lasts! You know what I do?

Because I worked so much in the past for magazines with no money, I know how to make the budgets work, so I go with more than one person, share tickets, get deals with hotels. They stay in their budget, and at the same time they have a better story than if it was in the studio, a richer story and a bigger story. I went to Brazil and for W I did 24 pages, for American Vogue I did 20 pages, for British Vogue I did 14 pages. More pages, more budgets. How we work is all about how much per page. KPG: Mario, do you work with the same team each time? All the girls, the editors that I started testing with, they have all gone up, reached fashion director of their magazines. Most of them I have been working with for 8, 10 years, some for 16 years, since I started. Lucinda Chambers from British Vogue, I used to do my tests with her. Make up and hair - Orlando Pita. We've been working together for 12 years, we were struggling together at the beginning. They grow on their side, and then you make it, and you continue working together.

I try to find new people but I am very much about a team. Every so often I try to add somebody new, like Alex White at W, she used to be Hamish Bowles' assistant when I worked with him at Harpers & Queen. I know him for a long time, so now I work with her. I probably will work with other assistants that we train because they learn to work as I do, and that's important. I do believe in teams, but I don't believe in taking your team all the time because then you don't get a different point of view. New people give us new things, make us look different. Editors are the ones who make us look in a different way, they point out different things, they awaken your attention to new things. They're the ones who push us to be what we are . A fashion photographer without a good fashion editor is not a good photographer . What has been good for me too is that I like clothes. I go to all the fashion shows, so when we have meetings for the next season, it's a conversation. They're not telling me that you have to do this and this and this, because maybe I also saw things that they didn't particularly see.

I very much work as a team with the fashion editors. When we shoot the editors tell me, 'That's no good, you've done that before, change the light.' It's a total conversation. I keep the same relationship with the hair and make up: they contribute as much, and my assistants contribute as much. I'm very democratic and I'm very open. I realise that if you are in the studio and there are ten people there, if the ten people like the photograph it's more likely that everybody will like it. I've tried to open the people around me to behave like that with me as well, to say when it's not good. Insecurity is a negative unfortunately. If you are insecure, and you don't want criticism, then you don't move forward either. KPG: So many photographers set themselves up as the supreme authority. MT: And I think that's wrong. KPG: Tell me about how you started. MT: I went to London to study. I wanted to go to university, and they only accepted me to go the following year. I wanted to stay in London, and a friend told me he was going to a photography school in London, a private school.

'One of the students has just left; you could probably take his place if they accept you.' So I went into that school, and my father was happy to pay although he was a bit shocked that I wanted to do photography . I was going to do economics, law and international relations. He said, 'Photography, wow !' Then the teacher died, and at the time I started working in the studio of someone who had been at the school before. They took me in as an assistant. When my father heard I was not going to school any more, he said, 'Well if you're not going to study then you should work. You should maintain yourself, because I can't maintain you forever. He proposed that I go back to Peru but I didn't want to do that, so I stayed in London and three months later they started sending me money. That's when we all moved into this hospital because we had no money to rent a flat and live like everybody else. The hospital was a dossers' home, and they had a floor they had not managed to fix because they ran out of money.

They offered us that we could rent it at �10 each, but we had the right to turn this whole corridor which was the X-ray Department into a private apartment. This whole building was just rooms where different people lived. We lived there for 7 years. Most of our friends were shocked when we said we were moving in there, but it turned out to be the centre of a whole group of people who did very well in their fields. We were a group of young people struggling, and as soon as we took this apartment Covent Garden became the centre of London. We lived right in the centre for very little money. It was a shocking place to live, because it was a home for alcoholics and tramps. They would throw up and pee in the corridors and everything. People were shocked when I brought them there to work, because I had a little studio and the editors were like, 'My God!' It didn't correspond to the way I am, because I am a clean and proper South American guy. I'm quite bourgeois.

I lived in this hospital, and when my teacher had died I went and worked in a restaurant for 4 months, and at the restaurant I realised that I had to start earning a living in a different way, because I'm not going to be a waiter. I decided that I'm going to quit and I'm going to start earning a living out of photography. So I started doing tests for people, and I would organise agencies to send me 4 girls. They would all pay me, not a lot of money but I got the film and processing out of that, and some extra money for me. I started like that, then all of a sudden magazines started calling me because they'd seen the books of the girls I had done tests of, so they wanted to see what I was doing. There's always a lot of young magazines, and they need young people because they are cheap. That's where I started. I wanted it so bad, and when you really want something, somewhere along the line you get it.

My father always said to me, 'Make sure you find something that you will enjoy doing every single day.' People think that you work 5 days a week to have your weekend, and they don't realise that 5 days is longer than 2 days, so it's mad to suffer for 5 days to enjoy 2 days, when you could enjoy 5 days and rest 2 days. KPG: What was your background in South America? MT: I went to an American Catholic school in Peru, a very proper school at which I was quite a good student. I was always first or second in my class, and at the age of 17 I started getting a sense of the wild side of Peru. I guess Peru must be like Australia: beside the sea, and it's quite distracting. They like partying and going to extremes. So between 17 and 19, 20, when I left there was a very big change in my life, because I became open to the world. I was quite lucky that from a very early age my parents used to travel to America, we went to New York a lot. I used to go with my father.

My father worked with American companies and he did not speak English so I used to go as his translator. That opened up a lot for me, being able to go to New York and seeing everything. In Peru people were very classical. I would go back with new clothes I bought according to what I had seen in New York, so I would go to aparty and I would be wearing a flower, and hipsters with a big buckle belt, and tiny little tight shirts and everybody would look at me like I was the biggest freak, because everybody would dress very conventionally. It was very Brooks Brothers, very Jermyn Street, a little like how I dress today. From an early age I had an interest in clothes, in image and creating a new look. Once I was photographed by this Peruvian fashion magazine photographer, and my wardrobe was the styling for the shoot. It was quite funny. KPG: Is it true that people from Latin America had a very strong visual sense? MT: They certainly are impeccably well dressed, and they have a very strong sense of style. They believe very much in presentation. When you go to Peru, to the markets in the mountains it's unbelievable all the things they make!

Their handicraft is so incredible: they are very original. I guess my sense of style I get from Peru. KPG: Have you kept the sense of colour you had in South America? MT: I think so. It's an influence, but you have to realise that I grew up in Peru, then I went to England where they have an incredible sense of colour. Look at the porcelain, and they use a lot of colour in their interiors! I've had a lot of influence from that. When you look at this office, you wouldn't think this is a Peruvian colour sensibility. I would think it is more an English one, but if you show it to an English person they'd think it's Peruvian. I believe in colour. From an early age I used to dress in a lot of colour. I would wear pink trousers and a red shirt and a yellow jacket, go out in the street and receive verbal abuse. There are things that people criticise you for, but they may be the most valuable things you have and if you cherish them that's what will give you your thing in life.

All the things that people used to criticise me for, and that I really fought to keep, are the things that made my style more individual than the others. As I left the Testino brothers' offices near the Place de la République and waited for a gap in the traffic over the Boulevard de Magenta, the lights of the cabs and vans and motor scooters glistening romantically on the rain-dampened tarmac as they can only in Paris, I thought back to a quote I had read in a Harpers' Bazaar article on Testino and his homes. "You know," Testino said, "people spend their lives trying to follow up what other people have done, and really the thing to do is to find out what you are about. Because nobody can be who you are. Nobody has had the life, the experiences, you have had. And at the end of the day, it's about finding your inside." Unlike other fashion photographers who have hit a pinnacle early in their lives, innovating for a time, revelling in the fame and money it brings, then fading in their creativity, I have the feeling that Testino is in it for the long haul.

If he does stay true to himself and alive to the changes in his life and our times, he may become one of fashion photography 's elder statesmen, forever refining, refining and refining the essence, like the painter Titian in his old age. I hope so. Somebody in a profession so infamous for its grotesquely inflated egos and yet with such consideration for his co-workers deserves to be around for a long, long time. Interview: Mario Testino - Cool Hunting Interview: Mario Testino CULTURE Interview: Mario Testino The intimate moments behind a whirlwind of glossy covers and a look at the illustrious life of an acclaimed lensman by CH Contributor by Vivianne Lapointe Less than a month after the closing of "In Your Face," a dedicated retrospective at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, acclaimed fashion photographer Mario Testino unveils a series of never-before-published images carefully curated from his personal portfolio. The evocative selection encompasses favorite outtakes from the past 30 years of his prolific career, for an inside look at both his work to date and the artist himself.

The man worshipped globally for his mastery of glamour opens up about his favorite subject and the genesis of this new exhibition set at Prism Gallery in Los Angeles: "Desire. I feel like a lot of these image have to do with desire. The idea of what we build our dreams on. Whether they're things that belong to our everyday lives like a Coca Cola, a sensual moment or a beach—they have a lot to do with what we thrive for." We're talking lascivious love scenes in the park, velvet interiors, diamond panties, Brazilian derrières and, of course, the timeless Kate Moss, his long time muse, whom he's shot with over a thousand times. "I've known her for 15 years and she is one of the most fascinating people I know. What I particularly love about her is that she's never let go of that innocence from the beginnings—that curiosity and that appreciation and that thankfulness to life. I find a lot of people get lost in success. They lose track, and she hasn't." He hints that it is a similar attitude that allows him to stay inspired and consistent, constantly redefining himself as a photographer.

"I can't help it really, because I am curious and every single day I want to reach at least the level of emotion that I felt yesterday." For Testino, the past decade has surely been thrilling; a whirlwind of glossy covers and advertising campaigns for the world's most prestigious luxury brands. "I feel very lucky because I am given a lot of artistic freedom, but commercial work still means you are commissioned to do a photograph to sell something in particular, whether it be a dress or a perfume or whatever it is." In this fine art series, he enjoys his freedom of expression to the fullest. The photos exhibited are often sultry, sometimes outrageous and undeniably intimate. "Most of these pictures belong to moments when nobody has asked me to do anything. It's just my own need to capture something, to document something, to communicate. They have no reason to exist apart from the fact that I decided to create them." Like many photographers, Testino is obsessed with documenting life. "But I always go to document something that I've already thought of in my mind. I go to a particular place to find what I'm looking for. It's not random," he explains. "I went somewhere last night and hated not having my camera," he admits.

The artist famous for saying "My pictures are my eyes," even implies quite literally he wishes he owned a pair of Google Glass , which would allow him to just snap picture of what he sees through the augmented reality eyeglass lenses. Back in his native Peru, where he has been spending more and more time lately, Testino has launched a new arts foundation, Asociación Mario Testino, to house a large collection of his photography and showcase the work of local up-and-comers. "I'm one of those people who can smell what's going to happen. I could feel the momentum of Brazil coming. I found Gisele and a lot of other girls, and started working there a lot. And Peru is coming to this moment. Something is happening there that's very exciting." Speaking of exciting, when we asked him what his favorite thing is about Oscars weekend in LA, he swiftly answered, all smiles: "The Vanity Fair party in LA. I love it because everybody comes from the awards show. It's got a certain energy of exhilaration of success and happiness, and it's quite wonderful because I've been working with the magazine for so long and I know most of the people. It becomes an intimate affair for me.

It's weird to say this about such a public event, but you know, when you spend your life photographing famous people, those are the people you spend your life with." And indeed, a party with Testino often looks a lot like the stimulating images he so successfully creates. Testino's latest exhibit runs from 26 February 2013 to 30 March 2013 at Prism Gallery . Images courtesy of Mario Testino and Marie-Joelle Parent

Question: In which field of the arts would you find Mario Testino?
Answer: PHOTOGRAPHY